[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 654 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 654

To strengthen the rights of workers to associate, organize and strike, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 17, 1999

 Mr. Wellstone introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To strengthen the rights of workers to associate, organize and strike, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Right to Organize Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. EMPLOYER AND LABOR ORGANIZATIONS PRESENTATIONS.

    Section 8(c) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158(c)) 
is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after the subsection designation; 
        and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
    ``(2) If an employer or employer representative addresses the 
employees on the employer's premises or during work hours on issues 
relating to representation by a labor organization, the employees shall 
be assured, without loss of time or pay, an equal opportunity to 
obtain, in an equivalent manner, information concerning such issues 
from such labor organization.
    ``(3) Subject to reasonable regulation by the Board, labor 
organizations shall have--
            ``(A) access to areas in which employees work;
            ``(B) the right to use the employer's bulletin boards, 
        mailboxes, and other communication media; and
            ``(C) the right to use the employer's facilities for the 
        purpose of meetings with respect to the exercise of the rights 
        guaranteed by this Act.''.

SEC. 3. LABOR RELATIONS REMEDIES.

    (a) Board Remedies.--Section 10(c) of the National Labor Relations 
Act (29 U.S.C. 160(c)) is amended by inserting after the fourth 
sentence the following new sentence: ``If the Board finds that an 
employee was discharged as a result of an unfair labor practice, the 
Board in such order shall (1) award back pay in an amount equal to 3 
times the employee's wage rate at the time of the unfair labor practice 
and (2) notify such employee of such employee's right to sue for 
punitive damages and damages with respect to a wrongful discharge under 
section 303 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947 (29 U.S.C. 
187), as amended by the Fair Labor Organizing Act.''.
    (b) Court Remedies.--Section 303 of the Labor Management Relations 
Act, 1947 (29 U.S.C. 187) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new subsections:
    ``(c) It shall be unlawful, for purposes of this section, for any 
employer to discharge an employee for exercising rights protected under 
the National Labor Relations Act.
    ``(d) An employee whose discharge is determined by the National 
Labor Relations Board under section 10(c) of the National Labor 
Relations Act to be as a result of an unfair labor practice under 
section 8 of such Act may file a civil action in any district court of 
the United States, without respect to the amount in controversy, to 
recover punitive damages or if actionable, in any State court to 
recover damages based on a wrongful discharge.''.

SEC. 4. INITIAL CONTRACT DISPUTES.

    Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(h)(1) If, not later than 60 days after the certification of a 
new representative of employees for the purpose of collective 
bargaining, the employer of the employees and the representative have 
not reached a collective bargaining agreement with respect to the terms 
and conditions of employment, the employer and the representative shall 
jointly select a mediator to mediate those issues on which the employer 
and the representative cannot agree.
    ``(2) If the employer and the representative are unable to agree 
upon a mediator, either party may request the Federal Mediation and 
Conciliation Service to select a mediator and the Federal Mediation and 
Conciliation Service shall upon the request select a person to serve as 
mediator.
    ``(3) If, not later than 30 days after the date of the selection of 
a mediator under paragraph (1) or (2), the employer and the 
representative have not reached an agreement, the employer or the 
representative may transfer the matters remaining in controversy to the 
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service for binding arbitration.''.
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